"Let those
who praise our existence visit
these slopes, to see how carefully
our race is nurtured
by loving Nature.
And here they can justly estimate
and measure the power of humankind,
that the harsh nurse, can with a slight movement,
obliterate one part of, in a moment, when we
least fear it, and with a little less gentle
a motion, suddenly,
annihilate altogether.
The ‘magnificent and progressive fate’
of the human race
is depicted in this place."
(extract from "Wild Broom", Giacomo Leopardi)
Etna volcano, September 2020
